Student Net

Past Events

ALS welcomed community members and encouraged them to bring their pets to campus for an afternoon of pet related fun! This gave pet owners an opportunity to learn about local veterinarians, where to buy pet food, dog walkers and dog-sitters in the area and were able to register their dogs with the South Royalton Town Clerk. Attendees enjoyed pizza, participated in our raffles and entered and voted in the pet photo contest.

Students came and learned more about the various legal, legislative and grassroots issues and opportunities in the field of animal law while enjoying a delicious vegan southern style dinner.

The panel included:

Lori Kettler
VLS Alum and Legal Counsel for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

Joanne Bourbeau
The Senior VT/NH Director of the Humane Society of the United States

Deborah Loring
A grassroots animal activist based in Vermont

Jane Hoffman was a founding member of New York City's Bar Association Committee on Legal Issues Pertaining to Animals. Formed in 1990, this committee was one of the first Animal Law committees in the country. Ms. Hoffman is also the president of the board of directors for the Mayor's Alliance for New York City's animals. The Alliance facilitates communication between the city government, local shelters, and animal rescue groups. One of the Alliance's main goals is to make New York City a no kill city through adoption of dogs and cats and by increased use of spay/neuter surgeries.

Additionally, Ms. Hoffman is an accomplished attorney who has worked at Simpson Thacher & Barlett, Handy Associates, and is currently in private practice. She was awarded the inaugural Excellence in the Advancement of Animal Law award at the 2007 American Bar Association national conference in San Francisco.

On Monday night, she spoke to interested students about how she set up the Animal Law Committee. She also discussed her successes with the Mayor's Alliance. Specifically, she talked about how the Alliance is organized and the different but interelated ways that the Alliance is meeting its overall goal of making NYC a no-kill city.

VLS students and members of the community gathered at Vermont Law School for the 'Investigating Animal Cruelty in Vermont Workshop' to learn more about a new role that draws on experiences of both law enforcement and humane agencies: the animal cruelty investigator. The workshop opened with "The Anatomy of a Cruelty Case." This session led participants through a cruelty case, from the start of an investigation through its prosecution, and explained what elements are critical to the prosecution's success. At the end of the day, participants practiced the investigation skills they learned in the "Animal CSI Role Play" by working through common situations encountered when investigating animal cruelty complaints. In other sessions, participants were given background in Vermont laws dealing with animals, and learned what resources are needed for investigating various animal cruelty complaints and how to leverage those.

Janet Carini, D.V.M., Owner, Rutland Veterinary Clinic at Castleton; Joanne Bourbeau, Senior State Director, The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS); and Jessica Danyow, Director of Operations, Rutland County Humane Society presentered at the Workshop.

If you would like a copy of the training manual, it is available for free download at http://www.vactf.org/manual/.

Click here to view the Workshop agenda.

To view the Powerpoint slideshow presentation from the Workshop, click here.

To view the CSI Case Studies slideshow presentation from the Workshop. click here.

Each Spring, Animal Law Society members challenge their fellow students to go a day without meat. Some students pledge to go vegetarian and give up meat for the day, while others pledge to go vegan and give up all animals products such as eggs, dairy and honey. To help students stick to their pledge, the Society offered a free vegan taco and fajita bar for lunch (to a limited number of participants) and invites a speaker to discuss vegetarian or vegan issues. This year the Society served a vegan taco and fajita bar, and invited Amy Tuller to present on maintaining a healthy vegetarian or vegan diet.

The Animal Law Society held their annual Vegan Thanksgiving for about 100 of their fellow students to show that people don't have to give up great Thanksgiving Day food to be vegan. The Society prepared and served all the Thanksgiving Day favorites: mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, cranberry sauce, a leafy green salad and, of course, delicious Tofurkey.

The Animal Law Society invited the Deputy State's Attorney for Rutland County, a Veterinarian for Rutland Veterinary Clinic, and the Director of Operations for Rutland County Humane Society to come to our meeting and discuss their efforts and experiences prosecuting animal cruelty. They discussed applicable Vermont statutes, how they are able to work together to prosecute animal cruelty effectively, and what to do if you witness cruelty.

Each year, the Animal Law Society hosts the Interspecies Mixer to help kick off the beginning of the new school year, and to raise a little money to support other SALDF programming. The Mixer is a picnic which offers students, faculty, staff, and their pets to mix and mingle.

Photos from the 2009 Interspecies Mixer.

From April 13th to April 17th, the Animal Law Society hosted adoptable dogs from the Northern New England Dog Rescue in the campus bookstore.

The annual Solutions Conference allows VLS student groups to present panels to facilitate discussion of potential solutions for the pressing issues of our time. The Animal Defense Society presented a panel about effective activism on animal welfare issues. Joanne Bourbeau, Senior State Director of the Vermont and New Hampshire branches of the Humane Society of the United States, spoke on the need for small-scale, local action as part of a larger movement meant to bring about change on animal welfare issues.

Click here to view Joanne's bio.

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